Back to Featured Interviews >>

MEET DIANNE M. MACMILLAN
by Bonnie O'Brian

What did you most like to do when you were a child?

Dianne M. MacMillan

I loved to read. Once I started a book, I read it straight through without stopping. So even while drying dishes or doing other chores, I’d have my book propped up so I could read at the same time. I also loved playing outside, exploring creeks, climbing trees, building forts and pretending to be off somewhere in an unexplored area.

When you were a child did you ever want to be a writer when you grew up?

I never thought of becoming a writer. When I was eight years old I began taking tap and ballet dance lessons. I decided I was going to become a world famous ballerina. I took lessons for many years and performed in lots of recitals. I spent hours in our basement pretending to be on television or in the movies.

What was your first job when you graduated from college?

My first job was teaching 2 nd grade. After a few years I switched to 4 th grade. I loved teaching. And one of the things I enjoyed doing was writing plays for my students to perform. So I guess this was the start of my writing for kids.

Was your first book accepted immediately? Or did you experience a number of rejections?

I had SO many rejections. I kept them in a “red” folder and called the folder my “Red Badge of Courage.” Finally, I started selling stories to magazines, but I couldn’t get a book manuscript accepted by a publisher. After six years I received a letter from an editor at Simon & Schuster who had read one of my stories in Highlights Magazine. She wanted to know if I’d “ever considered writing a book.” My first book, MY BEST FRIEND MARTHA RODGRIQUEZ, MEETING A MEXICAN-AMERICAN FAMILY was published 2 years later. And today in spite of 24 published books I still get rejections. A writer has to have perseverance and keep revising and submitting.

Where do you get your ideas?

Ideas are everywhere. Sometimes I remember something from my childhood. Sometimes it’s something I’ve read. My first magazine article was about cockroaches predicting earthquakes. That came from the newspaper. The idea for my book ELEPHANTS-OUR LAST LAND GIANTS came because I found an obscure fact that elephants have 6 sets of teeth in their lifetime. Often a publisher will suggest an idea for a book.

Have any of your books earned special recognition?

When my book CHEETAHS was published, it received the Outstanding Science Trade Book for Children award and then the following year it was chosen one of the Science Books and Films Best Books for Children. HUMPBACK WHALES was in the 2006 Elementary California Collection; LIFE IN A DECIDUOUS FOREST was in the 2006 and 2007 Middle School California Collections; and my MISSIONS OF THE LOS ANGELES AREA was in the 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002 Middle School California Collections.

Do you enjoy researching or do you prefer working totally from your imagination?

I love research and finding out little known facts and trivia. I’m always learning new things. I’ve written all sorts of books: endangered animals, fantasy with a leprechaun and another with a tooth fairy, deciduous trees, holidays, California missions and the port of Los Angeles.

What are you working on now? When do you expect to start submitting it to publishers?

I’m doing research for a biography on James Buchanan Eads—a self taught engineer who lived in the 19 th century. The research will take most of the year and then I’ll start submitting my book.

What do you most want the students to get out of your school visits?

I try to instill the fact that everyone is a writer/author. We become authors when we put words on paper. I want kids to love reading and writing. And as I share the writing process and interesting facts in my books, I also want my visit to be fun, enjoyable, and a learning experience.